Environment Agency chief executive: Defuse the ‘weather bomb’ with better protection and stronger resilience
Environment Agency Chief Executive urges “twin track” approach to
flood management Sir James Bevan to warn against the “wrong
kind of development” on flood plains in speech at World Water-Tech
Innovation Summit in central London A new ‘twin track’
approach focused on better flood protection and resilience is
needed to deal with the climate emergency following weeks of record
breaking river levels and flooding across the UK, the
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A new ‘twin track’ approach
focused on better flood protection and resilience is needed to
deal with the climate emergency following weeks of record
breaking river levels and flooding across the UK, the Chief
Executive of the Environment Agency will argue today (Tuesday 25
February).
In a speech at the World
Water-Tech Innovation Summit in central London, Sir James Bevan will say that while we
must continue to build and maintain strong defences to reduce the
risk of communities being flooded, in a climate emergency,
communities will also need to become more resilient so that when
flooding does happen it poses much less risk to people, does much
less damage and life can get back to normal much
quicker.
Sir James will
say:
“First, we must continue to do
what we have been doing for some years now: building and
maintaining strong defences to reduce the risk of communities
being flooded.
“But in the face of the climate
emergency, we now need a second, parallel, track: making our
communities more resilient to flooding so that when it does
happen it poses much less risk to people, does much less damage,
and life can get back to normal much quicker.
“The best way to defuse the
weather bomb is better protection and stronger resilience. We
need both.”
The Environment Agency is
already spending £2.6bn building new flood defences that will
better protect 300,000 properties by 2021 and over £1bn to
maintain existing defences in England. Over 200,000 properties
have already benefitted. Of that £2.6bn, 55% is going to reduce
flood risk from rivers and 45% is reducing risk on the coast. The
investment programme will also better protect nearly 6,000 miles
of motorways and local roads, 300 miles of railways and over
700,00 acres of farmland.
Later this
year, the Environment Agency will publish its new floods
strategy, setting out plans to prepare for and adapt to the risks
that climate change is creating.
While recognising that it is
unrealistic to ban all development on flood plains given the
nature of England’s geography, Sir James will also argue that
development in such areas should only happen when there is “no
real alternative”.
He will say:
“We cannot realistically ban
all development in the flood plain: it is where most of our towns
and cities are, and because our country has so many rivers much
of England is a flood plain. So as the population grows, we are
likely to see the number of properties in the flood plain almost
double over the next 50 years.
“But the clue is in the name:
flood plain. So we can and should insist that development only
happens there if there is no real alternative, that any such
development doesn’t increase other people’s flood risk….and that
properties built on the flood plain are flood resilient, for
example with the garages on the ground floor and the people
higher up.
“Greater resilience also means
designing new places, buildings and infrastructure so that they
are built to cope with flooding. It means building back
better after a flood, not simply replacing what we had before, so
that homes, businesses and infrastructure are more resilient to
future events. And it means accepting the hard truth that in a
few places, the scale of coastal erosion and the risk of flooding
from rivers or the sea will become so big that it may be better
for communities to choose to relocate out of harm’s way. So not
only do we need to build back better.
“Sometimes we will need to
build back in better places.”
Sir James will also reiterate
that more natural methods will be needed to manage flood water
like planting trees to retain water when it rains, restoring
artificially straightened rivers to their natural curves to slow
the flow of water, making space on land for water to collect
there rather than flood communities, creating wetland habitats
that hold water and enhance biodiversity.
His speech comes as the
Environment Agency continues to respond around the clock to the
ongoing impacts of Storm Dennis.
England has
already received over 141% of its average February rainfall so
far with some areas experiencing a month’s worth of rain in 24
hours. River levels have exceeded existing records across the
country. The Rivers Colne, Ribble, Calder, Aire, Trent, Severn,
Wye, Lugg and Derwent are among the many rivers where records
have been broken due to continuous wet weather.
Around 1,000
Environment Agency staff per day have been mobilised on the
ground to operate flood defences and temporary pumps, clear
debris from rivers, inspect damaged flood defences and make
repairs. Environment Agency operational teams have put up more
than 6km of temporary flood barriers across the country and flood
defences have protected nearly 25,000 properties from the ongoing
impacts of Storm Dennis. Community information officers are also
out supporting affected communities offering advice and
assistance.
The Environment
Agency is urging people to be aware
of their flood risk, sign up to flood
warnings, make a
flood plan and not to drive or walk through
flood water. The public can keep up to date with the latest
safety advice, call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or follow
@EnvAgency on Twitter for the latest flood updates.
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